Two Chinese firms that have benefitted from this overseas interest in Chinese gardens are the Suzhou Institute of Landscape Architectural Design and the Suzhou Garden Development Company. Both firms are owned by Landscape Architecture Corporation of China, which is part of the Ministry of Construction.

Imperial edicts in medieval China typically ended by exhorting lowly subjects to “tremble and obey”; from all available evidence, the edicts had just the desired effect.In the modern era, however, China’s muscular assertion of its recently acquired economic and political might to get the rest of the world to “tremble and obey” may have run its course and is beginning to face a global pushback.

The inaugural Chinese Film and Cultural Festival is meant to improve communication and understanding between China and the U.S. through cultural and artistic exchange.

Even as the political relationship between New Delhi and Beijing has gone through ups and downs this year, the Indian government has quietly launched a broad campaign to win hearts and minds in China.

Since opening in May, the tremendous success of the Shanghai Expo has been vividly demonstrated by what has also been the source of the greatest number of complaints: endless queues. Visitors, primarily Chinese, arrive as early as 3am and assemble in ever-longer lines in front of national pavilions, with the biggest crowds drawn to the ones packed with technology.

Europe and China must "invest more in the great potential of our people-to-people relations" to fully benefit from their strategic partnership, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said this morning (6 October) at a press conference alongside Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

There are four official languages in Singapore: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. When the country gained independence in 1965, the government decided to keep English as the main language in order to maximise economic prosperity. Mandarin, however, has always been an important language too.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has a new chairman in Walter Isaacson, and the former CNN and Time magazine chief is calling for even more money for the BBG to combat the public diplomacy efforts of America's "enemies," which he identifies as Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and China.